Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Heavy rainfall battered Bhopal on Monday evening, keeping traffic personnel and civic bodies on their toes as they scrambled to clear water-logged roads and ease vehicular congestion. The downpour brought the city to a standstill, flooding streets and causing traffic chaos, with several commuters stranded at roadside bus terminals.
Torrential rain triggered heavy water logging in various pockets of the city. According to Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) call centre, areas such as Ganesh Mandi near Rani Kamlapati Railway station, Awadhpuri, Alpana Tiraha reported heavy flooding.
In many residential areas, locals had to wade through knee-deep water to step out of their homes. Water-logging in many areas of the city led to a flood-like situation. BMC received numerous complaints of water-logging.
Vehicles stranded for nearly an hour
Downpour that lasted over 30 minutes resulted in traffic jams across key city roads including MP Nagar, Sarvarkar Setu (Ganesh Mandir), the Rachna Nagar underbridge, and Alpana Tiraha. Vehicles remained stranded for nearly an hour in these areas.
Prominently, vehicular movement came to a halt on Chetak Bridge, while roads in MP Nagar saw severe congestion, especially the stretch from Chetak Bridge to Board Office Square. Similar traffic snarls were reported on Link Road No. 1, particularly at Board Office Square, Vyapam Square and DB Mall Road.
In the Old City, Kamla Park Road saw a long traffic jam from Retghat to Polytechnic Square, including Moti Masjid and Iqbal Maidan. The Kolar area also witnessed jam-like conditions at bottleneck points.
Most of the traffic disruptions were caused due to water-logging forcing the motorists to drive through submerged streets. Although traffic police were deployed to manage the situation, vehicles were literally crawling on the flooded roads.
